Prescription and illicit drugs caused some 36,450 deaths in 2008, while 39,973 people died that year in motor-vehicle crashes, the leading cause of injury-related death in the U.S., though the number is stable rather than growing.

Unfortunately, nearly every Republican senator decided to vote against this realistic and doable approach in order to support Sen. Mitch McConnell's "message" amendment, which would have jeopardized significant progress on motor-vehicle fuel-economy and emissions standards, a violation of the Supreme Court holding in Massachusetts v.